Weezer's new Black Album is shaded by contrasts - review

Weezer released "The Black Album" on March 1.(Photo: COURTESY OF SEAN MURPHY)

Weezer’s artistic trajectory has been as predictable as a butterfly’s path, and anything less than the unexpected would be unexpected.

So on this quarter-century anniversary of the group’s debut (the Blue Album) they’ve already met expectations twice – first with the January release of the Teal Album, an improbably random covers album that produced one of the group’s biggest hits to date, a rendition of Toto’s “Africa,” and now with the new Black Album, possibly Weezer’s most hodgepodgey release yet.

You can’t knock opener “Can’t Knock the Hustle,” constructed like the theme song of a blaxploitation film, soulful with an emphatic beat – except for the mariachi-spiked chorus, which drops exclamation points into the sleek mix with the insanely catchy refrain “Hasta luego, adios!”

Of course, Cuomo delivers more crafty curveballs and playful ploys elsewhere on Black Album. On the bossa nova-meets-surf rock “Byzantine,” he asks, “Do something kinda unique to me/Do something that’ll make me swoon.” His tribute to Prince, “The Prince Who Wanted Everything,” is less like a Prince song and more like a nursery rhyme with lines like “His hair was very Joan Baez.” And the rewarding “I’m Just Being Honest” is a sonic rip off of Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You,” though Cuomo goes on a wry lyrical bender as he tries to decipher an admirer’s phone number written on a napkin in purple lipstick: “Is that an eight, is that a zero?”

Then there’s closer “California Snow,” an ersatz hip-hop/EDM/Imagine Dragons spoof that unfortunately drifts into unsavory bro rock. Other miscues range from a (perhaps purposefully) disconnected “High as a Kite,” a “Zombie Bastards” that sinks into murky quicksand after establishing a breezy island lilt, an incongruous “Living in L.A.” and a “Too Many Thoughts in My Head” where the frontman gratuitously bothers to establish a premise for his stream-of-consciousness lyrics.

Cuomo never needs to justify not making sense.

Weezer

Black Album

Rating: 3-1/2 (out of 5)

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Della Mae delivers prime cuts with 'Butcher Shoppe'

Della Mae’s “The Butcher Shoppe” is a spirited rush of six songs, its breezy atmosphere indicative of the organic recording process at Nashville’s Butcher Shoppe studio.

The all-woman, Boston-born, Nashville-based bluegrass band laid down the six tracks in two days, recording each in just a couple of takes and simultaneously tracking the vocals. The process was doubtless easier because these are fan favorite songs from Della Mae’s live shows, so the band is more than familiar with the material.

"The Butcher Shoppe" by Della Mae(Photo: Rounder Records)

The EP opens with a “Bourbon Hound” that’s part high-octane bluegrass, part Andrews Sisters boogie-woogie, the buoyant vocals dropping apt lines like “Baby won’t you whirl me around?” into the arrangement as the song pivots focus on a revolving array of instrumental parts.

The energy only amps up from there as the subsequent instrumental “No-See-Um Stomp” opens with an invigorating blast of violins not unlike a swarm of mosquitoes as the other instruments (mandolin, upright bass, guitars) jump onboard like hobos on a runaway locomotive.

“The Butcher Shoppe” also includes a charismatic swing through Lester Flatt’s “Sleep With One Eye Open” (though the vocals are weaker for the wear) and a swaggering rendition of the Merle Travis-penned “Sixteen Tons” popularized by Tennessee Ernie Ford, though Della Mae gives extra kick to the playful lines.

The band also whips through the downhome charm of the brisk “Bluebird Blackbird,” where the cornpone lyrics sound surprisingly genuine.

But the group comes up short with the EP’s finale, a cover of The Allman Brothers Band’s “Whipping Post,” Della Mae’s low-energy rendition of the iconic song dinged by the unsteady venture into blues rock and trying-too-hard vocals.

Yet that’s the only fat on “The Butcher Shoppe,” and at least Della Mae’s heart seemed to be in the right place.

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Della Mae

"The Butcher Shoppe"

Rating: 4 (out of 5)

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Film-music lovers will geek out over the new “Dark Matter: Music for Film” by Lawson Rollins – at least once they understand the premise.

Despite the “Dark Matter” title, the 25 tracks on this instrumental album aren’t generally the stuff of horror movies (with a few exceptions), plus these are original songs that aren’t actually part of any film.

But it’s easy to hear how they could be.

"Dark Matter: Music For Film" by Lawson Rollins(Photo: Infinita Records)

World music composer/producer Rollins plays electric, acoustic and slide guitar on “Dark Matter” as well as keyboards, percussion and drum programming. He gets backup support on keyboard from associate producer Stephen Duros, plus Mads Tolling plays violin and Guillermo Martinez plays flute.

All of the tracks are appropriately cinematic, though most are subdued and relatively brief, the kind of music you’d hear during transitional scenes or small (if significant) moments of a film.

Regardless of “Dark Matter’s” soft focus and background-music vibe, it draws a listener in with its subtleties, be it the pulsing bass and foreboding electric guitar of a “Sinister Encounter” that evokes a John Carpenter film or the stark textures of “Forbidden,” which conjures a dusty Old West setting.

Most tracks tip off the intentions of Rollins with their titles - “Unsettled” keys to a vague air of tension, “Innocence” is tethered to gentle acoustic guitar and flute, “Secrets of the Wind” focuses on a meditative rhythm – though there’s plenty of room for interpretation.

Rollins occasionally also breaks from his formula, as when “Dark Matter” rides reverberating electricity on the grim “Corruption” and when “Out of the Past” stretches out for a dramatic 5 minutes, suggesting a climactic scene.

Ultimately, “Dark Matter: Music for Film” is undemanding, though not insubstantial, a suitable soundtrack for daydreaming or yoga … or maybe even the basis for an imaginary film in your mind.

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